Mets

[Westheim]

Jonah Tong and the shoebox in Cincy were not a great mix, but neither was the Mets lineup, so maybe the issue is with us.

Can we please get rid of stinkin' Stanek, yesterday? Please?

[Westheim]

No no-no, Noelvi said.

I had to get that out there before I forget.

[Amazin69]

Sprout showed signs of life, but the Mets' bats were as dead as Davey. Mets are now the only MLB team not to have won a game where they trailed heading into the 9th. F'ing Flushing Front-Runners.

Now we head to Philadelphia to battle the Phillies anon. Since the sweep in our park, the Phils have gone 8-2, while the Mets have stumbled to a 5-5 pace. Way to build on that momentum, guys!

Cedric Mullins sucks at the plate, but he also has no range in the field and they're running on his joke of an arm. Bench his ass, and put Squirrel in CF to save his 33-y/o knees, please. We've had the audition, he's failed, move on.

(Nice trade deadline work, Stearns. No wonder we're 14-19 since.)

[Amazin69]

Well, that's that. If I ever heard a concession speech, that was it.

I wish the Mets luck on their apparent quest to become the first team since [whenever] to finish under .500 despite once having been 20 games over break-even.

As usual, I won't give even a particle of poop if the Mets end up with the "Wow, You're Totally a Pathetic Joke, Huh?" 6th place participation trophy. Way to go, losers.

Free hint to David "Wild Turkey" Stearns: next time, consider obtaining a pitching staff. FFS.

(Do we fire Stearns, too? Can't see a reason not to do so.)

[Westheim]

He's the first one on my list.

Also, right now there is not a lot of reason to worry about "winning" the third wild card, given that the Giants are now only two games back. Go Wilmer!

Would you root for Wilmer if the Giants made it with the third wild card?

[Amazin69]

Of course. I always wish him well. Is he still platooning with Dom Smith?

[Westheim]

(wakes up in the dead of night)

(checks where the Mets game is going)

(very tiredly double-facepaws)

(goes to lie back down again)

[Amazin69]

You can't say the Mets aren't consistent. Charlie Kirk showed more life tonight. (Too soon?)

Another solid 4 innings+ by Clay Holmes, I see. And So-So hit a lovely Strawberry Special for #39, I see. A solo shot down 9-1 in the late innings; my dad would have been proud. Pad those stats, Juan! (I can't wait for another 14 years of this, can you?)

JOHN KRUK: Look at us play!
TOM McCARTHY: Quite a change from a couple weeks ago, huh?

HOWIE: And that's gonna be it for Gregory Soto, who's here to get the lefties out…and for the most part, he hasn't been able to do it.

Gary reminds us that the Mets still have a two-game lead for the Pathetic Sixth-Place spot. So I guess we have to wait until Saturday for Gary to shut up about this.

Shouuld the Mets go 4-12 the rest of the way (and why shouldn't they?), they will finish at 80-82, and quite likely become the first team ever to finish under .500 after having been 20 games over the benchmark. Google Gemini couldn't come up with a better example than the 2021 Padres, who managed to flop from 67-49 to a 12-34 finish, ending up at 79-83.

(During the same season where the Mets spent 102 days in first place, a record for teams that ended up underwater.)

Now that I think about it, it's almost ironic that this is happening during Javy Baez's All-Star comeback season. "Thumbs down" to this set of Mets Muddlers, too.

[Westheim]

Oh, so this was not a dream.

Huh.

Only the good stuff ever happened in a dream.

Life sucks.

[Westheim]

Fell asleep during Pirates-Orioles earlier...

But woke up with the Mets game having just begone!

But it's on ******* FOX...

But at least Peterson is pitching and there's *a chance*...!

And they score four in the first inning...!

But Peterson was mostly crap...

And now they've blown the lead...

Without having had a bum on base since the first inning...

What a uniquely infuriating team.

[Westheim]

Luzardo is the first Phillies pitcher since Steve Bleeping Carlton to give up a 4-spot in the first and then pitch eight innings.

Granted, retiring 22 in a row generally helps with efficiency.

It's what's called "Bowling a Soto" by us nerds.

Go Tigers!

[Westheim]

Go home, Mets.

You suck.

[Amazin69]

Sorry, this one's on me.

After wondering if I even wanted to watch this one, I decided to allow for the possibility and set myself on MLBN to watch the pregame show. I paused the video so I wouldn't have to watch the ads, and fed the cat, started my own dinner, did some other things, and eventually had my dinner and sat back down to watch the game.

This was at 7:25 and I noticed that the pregame show was scheduled to last until. 8 PM. This struck me as being wrong, and I soon recalled that the game was actually on Big FOX, not cable. I switched over, just after Marte had hit the double to put the Mets up 4-0 and said, "of course, they score when I miss it. Typical."

And then Mets made 23 consecutive outs (counting Squirrel immediately lining into the inning-ending DP).

David Peterson (7.43 ERA in his 6 prior starts) had three good innings, which is apparently what this staff is built for. The bullpen continues to suck balls (it will be interesting to look back one day and see how many All-Stars we traded away to get this pile of poo) and, as Larry Merchant once wrote, "Good teams find a way to win; bad teams find a way to lose.)

Go Blind Squirrels! Make my Grandpa Max (who was gifted one share of Giants stock by Horace Stoneham in the 1930s, and sold it when the team moved west) proud!

"Official extinction descended the following week in Pittsburgh, where the Mets dropped three more games, each by one-run margins. In the seven key games against the Pirates, the Mets had batted into sixteen double plays and stranded no fewer than sixty-six baserunners, which is the mark of an old, old ball team"

—Roger Angell, "The Baltimore Vermeers" (1970)

55 years later, it's the other side of Pennsylvania, and the Mets actually won the games in New York and don't get that many runners on base these days, but still…"Plus ça change, plus ça même chose", as Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr would probably wish he had never written, were he to know how many pretentious twits would quote it, down the road.

[Amazin69]

Is the Mets Season Actually Over?

Misleading title; there's no dispute involved. Just lots and lots of lovely vitriol. You think we're bitter? Well, yeah, but these guys, too.

(Okay, their predicting that deGrom will win tonight 1-0 is stupid. Yes, Jake has a history of not getting run support in Queens, but this staff couldn't hold the Rangers' AAA team to one run.)

Fun fact: Tonight we see Jacob deGrom v Jonah Tong. They have the same birthday. (June 19th…Gemini power!)

A pity they're not in the same rotation. Say it long, say it loud, say it forever…"**** YOU, EPPLER!!!". (Yes, yes, Stearns sucks. But he didn't let Pete walk.)

**********
Since June 12th, the Mets have gone 31-47, .397. Fewer wins than the White Sox. And all this for the low, low price of $339,386,018

(The Dodgers have spent over $348 mn. So obviously, this is all Uncle Stevie's fault. ****ing cheapskate!)

[Amazin69]

Is the Jake tribute video nice? MLBN isn't showing it.

A reminder, after Jake shuts us down, you can stick with MLBN for Dodgers-Giants to watch the guy we paid instead of him two years back

[Amazin69]

BB
K
BB
F-9
Bloop single (RBI)
Single (RBI)
BB
Single (2 RBI)
Double (2 RBI)

Jonah Tong: 40 pitches, 0.2 IP, 4H, 6 ER

Maybe next year, kid.

[Westheim]

Tong getting obliterated was still able to hurt me.

Then I saw Jeff McNeil, who has gone all gray in a hurry. He also can't deal with this **** team anymore, and cashed his first career ejection for a bad call, but not even the tenth-worst call on the night. Yeah, if I was around those suckers all day long, I'd also ditch work at lunchtime.

I think once the team inevitably misses the playoffs, Uncle Steve will purge the front office and coaching staff.

I am looking forward to that.

[Amazin69]

72 losses means just 10 more to secure that losing record!

Philadelphia's Magic Number to Clinch is 3.

(Normally, I express this as the Mets' Tragic Number…but this season is already a tragedy/travesty. )

This is the Mets' 3rd 7-game losing streak of the year. There was the one that took us down from our 45-24 high point, where we got swept by Tampa Bay and Atlanta, the one in early August, which featured sweeps by Cleveland and the Brew Crew, and now this.

7+7+7=21. Blackjack!

[Westheim]

Hey-hey, Jose Siri and his .074 batting average and shrapnel-mangled leg are back to save the Mets!